“Suiting up before an adventure is rare and usually a more high level experience” Morris explained excitedly and they looked at the myriad of wrapped bundles laid out on the table in Terry's room. They were all going to sleep there tonight and go over strategy and the items to sell and keep from the impressive haul in the Ticket Counter level Hurk and Terry had completed that day.
There were also some items not from the level that Morris had made during his final assessment for blacksmithing and artificing. He decided to use the assessment as an excuse to make some items for himself and his new teammates. He had made a chest piece for each of them with a single simple enchantment.
For himself:
—-Common—
Medal Chest Piece Of Novice Creation
A reinforced protective chest piece able to equip items directly from Hotbar abilities. These items can become short lived charms with boosts to different attributes for creation and combat.
Creates armor score of 15
For Hurk:
—Common—
Leather Chest Piece Of Furious Rush
This Leather armor is strong in protection and grants the wearer the ability to Furious Rush. This ability is a short lived magically reinforced rush in a single direction.
Creates armor score of 15 with 5 Strength added
And for Terry:
—Common—
Reinforced Nano Weave Of The Wind
A shirt of protective and slick material that allows the user to move and traverse difficult terrain at great speeds.
Creates armor score of 10 with 5 Dexterity added
The shirt reminded Terry of athletic biker wear on Earth, but the material felt more sturdy. It was navy blue with a light blue accent on the sleeves, neck and chest. He and Hurk’s armor could even be worn under regular clothing making the shirts extremely helpful. Terry's shirt was also a wholly different theme than the other pieces, seeming more futuristic to the other more fantasy medieval theme.
Hurk and Terry had collaborated on the acquisition of the prizes to maximize materials that would give them a leg up in the upcoming levels they were going to experience. With the ticket funds they had decided on 1 expensive item for each member of the team and 2-3 less expensive items while the last of their tickets were spent on prizes that could sell quickly and at a good enough price to give them some much needed extra funds for the travel expenses.
Terry had grabbed a reasonable priced bb shotgun like rife:
—Common—
The Pellet Shooter
Ammo is elemental bead pellets, this gun can carry these in cartridges for easy loading. The cartridges can be refilled with materials of the element for easy gathering.
Aim is based on sight skill +5
The cartridges were like disposable film cases that fit on the stock of the rifle. Terry could fill them with dirt and rocks for elemental rock pellets, water for water elemental pellets, coals for fire pellets, and so on for any different type of ammo he needed. There were 5 cartridges on the butt of the rifle and one loaded in the gun, each cartridge made 6 elemental pellets. The versatility seemed to be its best feature. Though the android explained it had a short range of fire.
His other cheap item was a charm for his shoes that gave him an increased jump with a command word. Simple and effective, testing it out had launched him 10 feet in the air. His most expensive item was a pair of reinforced armored pants:
—Uncommon—
Exquisite Nano Weave Jeans Of The Rouge
These pants have several (4) unfindable pockets, they add protection and grant improved features to any and all skills from the Dark and Stealth like attributes.
+3 to armor
+3 to dexterity
+3 to each attribute listed
Dark Attribute adds meld to all clothing
They were like loose tactical cargo pants with front, back and side pockets not counting the 4 unfindable pockets. They were simple black with a boot cut fit that did not hang too low over his slim Chuck Taylor style shoes. The enhancements to his Dark attributes were simple, cheapening the mana cost of his call shadow spell, Meld, allowing him to fade into a shadow becoming nearly invisible when in the shadow.
He had only used the call shadow spells outside of combat, however he could immediately see what uses it could have when used. He could beacon shadows to cloak himself or an ally or even blind an enemy or obscure an item or feature. The larger the shadow needed the more the spell cost, but it was usually a very small amount. With the addition of the pants the loss in mana was barely noticed.
Hurk had gotten a new club to replace the standard bat he carried around. This one was more cudgel-like, but made of wood and not metal. It had two enchantments to enhance the swing on contact and projectile option if he swung it without hitting anything.
—Uncommon—
Ironwood Club For The Brawler And Distance Brawler
Reinforced club has 15% chance to add force damage 50% equal to Strength on hit. When swung and nothing is hit, it produces a force attack at a distance of 5 meters in the chosen direction.
The club had been mildly expensive being considered uncommon for its ranking. The distance attack was not overwhelmingly strong, but it could be used to distract and draw attention, reinforcing Hurk’s tank style approach to most combat.
He had gotten a nice potion case as well, complete with health and stamina potions. Hurk had some slight healing knowledge from his Backbone (intelligence) attribute and so could administer them best. He was going to take the role of healing tank in the party, till they could find a better fit for a pure healing player. The case was magically reinforced to keep the potion bottles safe and even had a charm so the contents could not be retrieved, except by the wearer.
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The last item he had gotten was a unique item:
—Unique—
Bracers Of Sure Grip
Leather bands to be worn on the wrist to cover the forearm grants the ability Sure Grip, when initiated the wearer will not drop or let go of what they are holding till the command is rescinded.
These bracers would allow him to keep hold of anything when he gave a mental command. It was an odd sensation and they had all tried them and attempted to remove a held item to no avail. It did have the stipulation where your hand needed to be able to close around the item or something attached to the item. This was usually rather easy to complete, it often would just take some trial and error on how best to hold a particular item. It could also be activated on both hands or just one at a time as directed.
Hurk and Terry both had gotten items for Morris using the same principle as their own to meet his combat role needs. He was a creator and spell slinging fighter with skills for polearms and wand weapons. As such they had gotten him:
—Common—
Heat Repelling Gloves
Glove that can stand extremely high temperatures without breaking or affecting the hands within.
+5 to armor score
These were not directly related to combat, but were expensive and endlessly useful in the searing heat of a blacksmith's forge. Hurk had picked them for him for that reason and the possible application and protection Morris could receive.
Terry had chosen a effective spell focused staff for Morris:
—Uncommon—
Staff Of The Moon Of Destruction
This combat staff will enhance all destruction based spells and the wielder gains the Moon Ray Destruction spell with 2 uses a day.
Moon Ray was a white beam attack that did massive damage that could be charged for more power and area or a quick beam could be shot for less, but more accurate effect. The spell was apparently radiant in damage type and at higher levels gained abilities based on phases of the moons orbiting the Deck. There were 3 moons orbiting the Deck at wildly different spiraling orbits that brought them closer and away from the planet at different times of the year, apparently several rituals and ceremonies could be performed when specific moons were in specific places in the sky.
The final item for Morris was the most expensive of the three and probably the most expensive item they had gotten overall, like its rank it was truly unique:
—Unique—
Cowl Of Kermin Effective
A cowl that hides and protects the face of the wearer when worn, will effect spell potency, will improve aim of spells, will grant the user improved stealth and silent movement.
Grants +3 to Armor
Improved Spell aim by Sight skill +10
Improves Stealth by movement Skill +10
Apparently this was an item owned by a particular thief catching vigilant who stocked the streets of the capital til his untimely death. It was not soulbound like Terry’s knives, as the soulbonding effect was most common in weapons of that master. While they were having their sleepover to go over all the items and prizes Morris told them of the stories of Kermin Effective.
“He was a gnome known for getting work done, well, effectively. Kermin’s father and mother owned a special representation business for people fighting for their rights and against charges that people pressed against them.” Morris started
Terry cut in, “like a lawyer?”
“Yes, very good ones, they made a lot of money and left it to all their children that lived after a fire consumed most of their practice. There were only 5 children left after the fire, one left the capital to a life no one really cared to find out much about, 3 restarted the practice and did very well for themselves and Kermin took the role of a boozing socialite by night and a masked vigilante crime fighter in the later night. He was very good at fighting and concealing the identity but made a lot of money sharing his stories through a ghost writer under the pseudonym Richard Staff.'' Terry had been drinking when Morris had revealed the name and it came spraying out his nose. Morris was unphased and continued.
“Kermin used a pseudonym for his crime fighting persona as well, he was called the Night Cloak He had the attributes of Dark, Knight, Predator and Balance. It is believed that he made all his effects and his legend grew so well that his items were retrieved by the gods on his death to be used as prizes. It is said that he preferred projectiles and rope shooters for combat and traversal. It is believed that his Rope shooter became a soldbonded item, the wielder would be able to commune with the soul within to learn his secrets of stealth combat and being bad-ass.” Morris nodded while finishing and held up a series of books. “If you want to borrow any, let me know I have the full collection.”
Terry was actually interested in the book, he had read a few comic books when he was younger. The chat was idle after that, but something Morris had mentioned stuck out to Terry, the idea of soulbound items. He decided to hell with it and just brought up the question after looking to Rosa for affirmation.
“Morris, what is a soulbound item and what do you mean to commune with it?” Terry asked as a break in the idle conversation. The group was around a low table comfortably seated in soft couches and chairs.
Morris answered lightly and academically, “Soulbound items are unique level weapons and tools that were once held by a master level Player. A Player can connect and master an item, unlocking a bond to the item. Their soul will live on in the item once they die. It is believed that you must become close to the item to unlock the communication with the soul within.”
“How do you do that? Get close to the item, I mean” Terry frowned questioning the unclear answer.
Hurk replied this time, “I have heard players in the pub and on monster hunts talk about them a bit. It has something to do with learning about the soul within the item. Like if the item was a hood like we got Morris, he might need to stop a crime to relate or show the same sensibilities as the soul inside the hood.”
Rosa's eyes grew wide and she let out a “awe that made sense!”
“What does?” Morris looked at the turtle resting on Terry's shoulder.
Terry answered instead, deciding to finally tell the truth, he pulled Flicker from his inventory. “I got these from the cooking level on my first day. The meditation said they were soul-bonded to a Drunken Master named Koren Tidestamer. While I was in the hoard level fighting goblins, I heard a voice in my head cheering me on, I have not been able to hear it since.”
Hurk and Morris had both inspected the knives when Terry showed them off after receiving. They knew they were unique, but the pair of them had figured it was a linked power between two special tools rather than something like soulbounding.
“It can be a powerful tool if you figure out how to connect with them, what was your ‘aw ha’ moment there Rosa?” Hurk put in.
“Well,” Rosa answered, “I have been trying to find references to the master mentioned, this Koren, is not mentioned in any record nor is there any reference to the look of the two knives. But maybe he died fighting a monster or died fighting goblins so in that time when you were doing the same you were able to connect with the weapon.”
“Yeah that tracks.” Morris had a hand on his chin as if thinking out loud. “A drunken master is not a fighting style I am familiar with, but not all masters and weapons they got soulbound to are tracked. It is almost impossible to do so, usually if you kill a master or witness a master fall you’re probably not going to last long after or you're not really into writing down what you witnessed or did.”
No one asked why Terry had not shared the information, and he was still not sure how to answer that question.
Hurk put in an easy point, however “you think you could just get really drunk and try using them? That could work to emulate the type of master he was?”
Terry shrugged, “I have been so busy, drinking did not really occur to me. But you might be onto something there. It can at least be a test to see what happens.”
Hurk nodded, “Mother Martin is pretty against drinking, so I can imagine there is no booze here, we can use some of the trading cash to get some testing materials.” They all laughed at that and Terry was suddenly more excited for their trip then he was before. Sharing a secret with his friends gave him a confidence he hadn’t felt.
They all slept well and in the morning they sold the remaining bundled prizes in Iron Bays Player Tavern. The tavern made an initial offer on most prizes, other more valuable prizes could be sold for auctions and the profits above that initial price were split between the seller and the Player Association that ran the network of taverns in each of the gateway towns and cities.
They had been given some easy camping gear and an enchanted tent from Mother Martin for the journey north. They gathered a good amount of provisions and kept them in Terry Inventory ability. Testing showed that it kept food in a suspended state depending on how he placed it in the inventory so raw meat could be fresh till it was removed. Terry decided then and there that he loved his new world and his amazing new powers.
The group set off up the road with Rosa on his shoulder and friends by his side, Terry was ready and happy for the new challenges in front of him.